A Comforting Warning About Agile

“Beware of becoming an Agile zealout, because this can backfire and put people off. Don’t treat people who are not applying Agile as fools who just need to see the light! This is disrespectful, and people simply won’t listen to your rants.” -Rachel Davies in Agile Coaching₁.

Why is this comforting? Good communities self-monitor. Many of today’s communities with momentum have some ego issues. Communities like Agile, Ruby and Mac folks. All three of those communities are great and everyone should be learning more about them, so this isn’t meant to start a flamewar. But what comes off as passion in an upstart community can be obnoxious in an established community. And it certainly doesn’t fly well with the 2nd and 3rd tier adopters that are often the target of such zealotry.

This isn’t an excuse for half-assed Agile. Go for “full-assed” commitment to whatever system a team uses, and in more cases than not, they should be doing a flavor of Agile (usually lean) throughout the software lifecycle.

But blind assertions and a condescending tone won’t win anyone over. No matter what is being sold. This can be a particularly hard trap to avoid when a person or their business are sold as Agile experts. Or… “I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail.” –Maslow

When leaders and authors in the community stand up for moderation, it is a sign of maturity.

1. Note that Agile Coaching is written by Rachel Davies and Liz Sedley, but Rachel Davies only is cited above as the quote is in a “Rachel says” section.